Anthony Rants

How easily putting off a blog update turns from days to weeks to months is always astounding to me. The nice thing about waiting so long to write is that there is always so much to share after a hiatus... that is of course if you still have people reading your blog to share with :)

First things first, the really big news: Anna left for Chicago yesterday to take the BAR today and tomorrow. She has been studying really hard for the past few months and I am sure she is going to do fantastic. I can't tell you how much of a relief it will be when she is finally done studying.

I have lots of little footnotes to share about what has been going on with me but it probably won't all fit into one post, so for this post, I'll share news about beer brewing. I organized this year's competition for the BUZZ club and it was pretty successful. It was the biggest competition we've had to date (239 entries) and it all went very smoothly. I also managed to do very well in the competition itself. I entered 11 different beers and scored 7 ribbons. For the year, that brings my entries to wins ratio to 58% (19 entries, 11 ribbons) and puts me in first place running for the Midwest Homebrewer of the Year competition. There are 6 more competitions to enter though, so it is really still anyone's game. Two friends from the club and I attended this year's National Homebrewers Conference. This year it was held in Cincinnatti and it was an absolute blast. During the day there were interesting lectures about various nerdy beer topics and during the evening, social events bringing brewers from all across the country together. It was the first time I had gone to any sort of beer related conference, and I wasn't sure what to expect, but it far exceeded all of my expectations. Next year's conference is in California, and I am already in negotiations with Anna to attend it :) October is going to mark my two year anniversary brewing... I'm sure that I will have to brew something special for that.

Oh, and in the BUZZ competition this year, Comrade Alofskie's Imperial Stout finally got its well deserved recognition with a first place ribbon in its category.

Last Saturday was a day of firsts for me. It was the first time I have attended a beer competition in person, the first time I have judged beer at a competition, (Drunk Monk in Aurora, IL), and the first time I have ever been there in person to accept my ribbons :-) The competition was great. It is really a unique experience to get to meet so many people that are as excited and passionate about beer as I am. I judged two categories of beers, in the morning I judged American Amber & American Brown Ales and in the afternoon I judged Old Ale, English Barleywine, and American Barleywine. Since I haven't taken the Beer Judging Certification Program's (BJCP) exam yet, I judged as a 'novice' essentially someone who knows something about beer, but isn't certified to judge it. In both instances, I also judged with some folks who have passed the certification process, so my opinions were tempered / weighted with theirs. And to think I probably wouldn't have attended at all had it not been for the fact that A) I forgot to send my entries to DMC, and if you attend in person, you can walk entries in at the last minute and B) a good friend of mine, Joshi, strongly encouraged me to go for the experience (plus I am the organizer behind our local club's competition this year). I walked in five entries and won ribbons with three of my beers (1st place for an Ordinary Bitter, 2nd place for a Cream Ale, and 3rd place for a Northern English Brown). The results were very respectable considering that DMC is one of the biggest contests in the midwest with some of the best (toughest) judging around as well. Another great part of the competition was the raffle. I spent $15 for raffle tickets and brought home $50 or $60 worth of cool beer stuff (a hat, t-shirts, bar towels, a pint glass, 2 really nice German liter mugs, 3 beer faucet tap handles, and hops. It was a great experience and I only hope I can put on a competition here that is as fun for all involved (It will be quite a challenge because Sam Adam's Longshot regional judging takes place on that same weekend).

This next weekend, Anna and I are going on a much needed vacation for her Spring Break. We are going to spend the first part of the week visiting my family in Colorado, and the latter part of the week at Mount Elbert lodge. We are really looking forward to it. My one beer-related mission for the trip is to bring back some La Folie (oh so good!).

Not much else is going on. Last night I brewed up a 5 gallon batch of Vanilla Porter for Anna's graduation party, it was the only beer she requested for the event. I will likely have 3 or 4 others on tap that day as well (probably a lighter beer [Cream Ale], some sort of fruit beer [Raspberry Cream Ale?], some sort of a hoppy beer [American Amber?] and another malty beer [Scottish or English ale?]). So if you are looking for something to do mid-May, the party is at our house! Come celebrate Anna's graduation from Law School and her entrance into the 'real' world with us!

The weather finally seems to be improving around here. We had a stretch where it was raining or snowing every other day. I am really looking forward to spring, something about that first couple of months of getting out into the yard and cleaning everything up is relaxing (of course that last couple months of cleaning up leaves isn't so fun). This year will also be my first year attempting to grow hops, so we'll see how that goes.

Hey, I am still alive! I have heard through various sources that many of my readers wondered what could possibly be keeping me so busy? Well, it has been a combination of things. Firstly, work has been really busy for the last few months. As the proverbial Dutch boy, I have my fingers in many a project. Secondly, working on my beer brewery has taken up much of the rest of my time. Then of course there were the incidentals, a couple of weeks ago I had all four of my wisdom teeth removed after one of them got really inflamed... and then there were lots of leaves to pick up, firewood to split, a house to unpack, etc. and so forth. But, things have finally calmed down and last weekend, I brewed my first batch of beer on my new setup. I did ten gallons of a cream ale that should be ready in a few weeks. Everything functioned as expected for the most part, I have some tweaks to make here and there, but I was really pleased with how my setup worked out.

Christmas kind of came and went this year, sandwiched between all of the various things that are going on... but one thing is for sure, I made out like a bandit! A couple of weeks before Christmas, as a present to myself for being so brave for the dentist, I bought a 50" high definition plasma tv (it is pretty awesome), and then for Christmas, Anna got me an Xbox 360 and that is really awesome. Nothing like listening and watching 15 year olds kick my ass on Halo 3 in high definition 50" glory. We celebrated Christmas at our house in Champaign this year, Anna's mom, sister, and her sister's boyfriend were here. I think we all had a really good time. Christmas with my parents has yet to be scheduled as it is awaiting Dad's return from the desert, but I am looking forward to that as well.

The majority of our house is finally unpacked, Thanksgiving saw to that. We also moved up from hand-me-down furniture to our own furnishings which really makes it feel like a new place (not too mention how much more comfortable all the seating is!).

Well, not much else is new, but I suppose with all of these changes, some sort of pictures would be in order... I'll have to give an IOU for those... and I suppose I could make some sort of fruitless promise to keep my blog more up to date... maybe I'll save that for a New Year's resolution :)

Well, another year has passed. My 26th birthday was really good. Anna made some German chocolate cupcakes with coconut-pecan frosting. I took some of them to work and everyone enjoyed them. Matt took me to a pretty good Chinese + bubble tea place for lunch and Anna took me out for dinner too :-)

Anna and I had a very productive weekend. On Saturday we had a garage sale where we made around $120, but more importantly, we got rid of lots of extraneous stuff that was laying around the house. The stuff that didn't sell (mostly my old clothes and such) was dropped off at Goodwill. Then on Sunday, we went mountain biking at Kickapoo State Park. It was a blast, it is hard to believe that there was such a fun trail hiding less than thirty minutes away. Hopefully we can explore some of the other trails in Illinois before fall and winter really set in.

Well, for those of you who didn't know, on June 15th we closed on our very first house. The closing went well, so well in fact that because of some credits and such, the sellers ended up cutting us a check to close the deal. Immediately after we got done signing all the papers, we picked up a bottle of Two Brothers Opus 10 and went over to the house to celebrate. Later that afternoon, Anna's dad arrived from Missouri to give us a hand with the most immediate task of repainting the rooms. If you remember the house from the pictures we had up, many of the rooms were painted for children and while Anna and I are quite young at heart, we were looking for something with a bit more sophistication in the area of decor. Anna's dad brought a power roller and lots of motivation, so much so that we got all of the rooms primed and even painted the ceiling in the family room (it was looking a little dingy)... but that wasn't all, we also did first coats of color in two of the rooms. Overall I think we painted the equivalent of eight rooms that day and after some burgers and beers at Murphy's I think we all slept very well.

But alas, Anna's dad had to get back to fighting crime in Jefferson City, and we had to get back to our day jobs. We really appreciated all of his support and hard work though, it made for a really smooth start. Since then we've continued the painting, rewired the outlets in the bedroom we chose to be our office (they weren't grounded), and installed crown molding in the master bedroom. We still have quite a few doors and trim to paint, but we hope to finish that up this weekend.

One thing that we immediately noticed at the new house is the temperature. It is so much cooler than the house we live in now and we aren't even running the air over there. We think it may have something to do with the mature trees or maybe all the insulation in the house or maybe even the gable fan in the attic... whatever it is, it is really pleasant. Hopefully the trend continues and it is warmer in the winter as well. Speaking of mature trees, the previous owners left us a little note explaining quirks of the neighboorhood and of the house and one of the things they told us to get prepared for was the unreal onslaught of leaves in the fall... I don't remember the exact number of bags they said it took to collect them all, but it was immense... anyone want to barter raking for beer in the fall? ;)

In other news... Anna now has her very own blog, http://www.annaraves.com, in the coming weeks I hope to get her setup with some sort of a unique theme based on her guidance; during the same period I hope to fix anthonyandanna.com (I accidentally overwrote the only copy of the site's index that I had). Oh well, I needed some impetus to update it anyways I suppose.

Matt has informed me that if I actually updated my site more than once a month, I would probably have more readers. To that end, I am going to begin an initiative to keep my site up to date (if you are keeping track, this is the 3rd or 4th such initiative). The worst part is, I have lots and lots to post about! This first post will be about something near and dear to my heart (not as near or dear as Anna & Parker though); this post will be about recent beer happenings.

At the beginning of June I entered my second homebrew competition. Feeling a tad more confident, and convinced (at least at the time) that I could handle any negative feedback, I entered four categories and one special entry category. The beers I entered were: BBC 60 Shilling Scottish (BBC stands for Benjamin Brewing Company, this beer was previously a 2nd place winner), BBC Dubbel Down Ale (a Belgian Dubbel), Pink Triang Ale (a beer with a pink hue, it was a Raspberry Cream Ale), and Comrade Alofskie's Russian Imperial Stout (a very, very strong Russian Imperial Stout, it is absolutely pitch black with a dark brown head and weighs in at 12% alcohol by volume). In the end though, Pink Triang Ale was the winner of my entries, grabbing me my first 1st place ribbon (I'll take a picture of it later). My other entries were all panned for various reasons, the Dubbel wasn't complex enough (possibly due to my use of table sugar instead of a complex Belgian sugar syrup, or maybe my yeast selection), the 60 Shilling was too old I think, at the time I bottled it, my bottling methods weren't very sophisticated and to some degree its longevitiy suffered because of it, and Comrade Alofskie's just wasn't 'roasty and toasty' enough apparently. Comrade Alofskie's was also entered into a second special category, a category judged for strength and drinkability (the so-called High Gravity Brew-Off). In that category, Alofskie's was received a little more warmly, garnering comments such as 'Do not share this with those that are unworthy', but alas, even with a relatively high score in that category, it did not place. Winners of the other categories are also all put into a last round selection for Best of Show, and while Pink Triang Ale didn't win BOS, it did get an honorable mention for it, which was cool. My next contests are in September, so I have plenty of time to brew up some entries. I'll probably end up entering alot of things I am brewing for upcoming family social events (more on that in a different entry).

Some recent beer tasting notes (if I can remember, I'll make a separate page in the near future to hold all of my notes in one place):

Project Opus 10, Two Brothers Brewery - To celebrate our house closing (more on that in a different entry), Anna and I bought got a bottle of this unique beer (instead of Champagne). The beer was a dark amber, copper color with a fleeting, rocky white head. The aroma was of wood, earth, and some cherry. The taste started kind of malty, had a touch of tart, and ended with a sort of coffee, leather finish. Overall I think we both liked the beer, but it is relatively expensive for the small bottle and in this case, I'm not sure the cost is justified.

Bare Tree Weiss Wine, Two Brothers Brewery - I'm not sure what vintage the bottles of this I got were, but I did enjoy this beer. A bit of time has passed since I drank it, but I do remember nice complex fruit and wood aromas from the glass. When the beer was cold (around 40F), the flavors were more muted and the hop bitterness was very subdued, when it warmed up (around 50F), many of the flavors were magnified considerably (along with the hop bitterness, so much in fact that Anna finds it much more enjoyable when it is colder, she's not a big bitter fan). I have kept aside two bottles of this for further tasting down the road :)

Three Philosophers Quadrupel, Ommegang Brewery - After listening to the head brewer, Randy Thiel, during an interview on a beer brewing podcast, I was really intrigued by the idea of this beer. A malty, high alcohol beer that is blended with a small amount of tart cherry lambic. I located this beer and decided to try it a few weekends ago; I was not disappointed by what I found. The beer is a dark, rust colored brown with an abundant tan head. The aroma is of malt and fruits. The taste is malty but also has a complex element of figs, prunes, and raisins. This last weekend, I convinced Anna to get another bottle of this for tasting and I think she really enjoyed it as well. In Champaign-Urbana, you'll find that Sunsinger Wine and Deli has the lowest price on this ($6.49 for a 750ml, if I remember correctly, and worth every penny).

Duveneck's Dortmunder Style Lager, BarrelHouse Beers - The first Dortmunder lager I had was actually one of last year's Longshot winners. I enjoyed that beer so much, I decided to give this beer of the same style a try. This particular beer was a malty, decently bodied lager I tried recently with just a touch of hops to it. Overall I thought this beer was a good example of the style.

RedLegg Ale, BarrelHouse Beers - This beer, by the same brewer as the fore-mentioned Dortmunder, is an American Amber Ale. I didn't really know what to make of this beer. It was so malty and butterscotch flavored that I'm not really sure I enjoyed it. The aroma was dominated by malt and the taste was almost entirely malt and some butter to the end. I may try this beer again to get a better feel for what it is all about.

Well, that's all for now, look for another update after work...

Today on my bus ride home I couldn't help but overhear the following conversation:

Man #1: I haven't seen you in awhile, how are you doing!?

Man #2: Well, that's because I've been in a nursing home for the last 6 months! I actually had a botched surgery, it was a back surgery but I got a staph infection. I was paralyzed on my entire right side for awhile, but I'm better now, my foot is a little uneven but that is about all and at least I am finally back to work.

Man #1: Wow, well I hadn't seen your car in awhile and I wondered if you had gone somewhere... say how is your dad doing?

Man #2: Ah, well he passed away... the same day of the botched surgery in fact... He had been in a nursing home with Alzheimer's.. so...

Man #1: I am so sorry to hear that...

Then it was time for my stop so I got off, but when I listened to this guy cheerfully tell of these awful things that had been happening to him, most of my troubles actually didn't seem that big of a deal after all.

Well, I have some news from the land of Lincoln. In late February, we visited our bank and got pre-approved for a mortgage, since then we had been house hunting. We saw lots of places and finally we found a place a week or so ago. You can see it here :) The inspection for our house is this Tuesday, hopefully there aren't any big surprises there. Our closing date is June 15th, so it looks like we will have a busy summer of home improvement projects.

My latest hobby, home brewing, whose effort is tentatively called the Benjamin Brewing Company is rolling right along. I have progressed to brewing entirely with grain. Home brewing is usually done either with malt extract, a syrup of what is essentially preprocessed grains OR raw grain. Brewing with raw grain is really fun, I'll have a post later this week going through most of a typical brew day, maybe a sort of home brew in as little as 27 simple steps (ala Matt). I recently entered a home brew contest not really expecting much except honest feedback from accredited judges. The beer I entered is something I suppose can be relatively challenging to brew well. It is known as Scottish Light Ale, and mine is known as BBC 60 Shilling Ale. Well, as it turns out, I got 2nd place in my category of nine entries (Control+F, search for Anthony, they spelled Shilling wrong :p). It is really exciting considering this is the first contest I have entered, and I can't wait to get my ribbon and score sheets back. The next contest I will be entering is a local one (the 13th Annual Boneyard Brew-Off). I will be entering at least three beers into that contest and I hope to do even better :-) My brewing hobby has also given me an excuse to spend even more of my free time in Photoshop (and more recently Illustrator). I leave you with my latest beer label.